1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to strategic collaboration, and more particularly to knowledge-based matching and networking.
2. Description of Related Art
The need for innovation and the challenges of fostering it are well appreciated. Matching individuals with knowledge in a particular area with those in need of a particular skill set is a problem pervasive throughout all industries.
Existing methods for matchmaking (e.g. eHarmony's U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,568) utilize a pairwise “satisfaction index” derived from factors elicited through survey questions and empirical data analysis. Other methods for characterizing social networking relationships (e.g. IBM's U.S. Pat. No. 7,177,880) address identifying personal relationships between users through analysis of contacts and email logs, or to allow users to specify those personal relationships themselves (e.g. Friendster, mySpace.com, LinkedIn).